English in Use/Sentences Overview

This section will serve as a basic overview of sentences. Each topic will be discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters.

Phrases

A phrase is a group of words which contains neither a subject nor a verb. (It may, however, contain a verbal form such as an infinitive, a participle, or a gerund.)[1]

Clauses

A clause is a group of words containing at least a subject and a verb (the baby ate), and frequently it lets its hair down by containing some kind of a complement as well (the baby ate the goldfish). There are two kinds of clauses: independent and dependent.[2]

Forms

There are three forms of a sentence: simple, compound, and complex, and one combined form: compound-complex.

Compound-complex

It is a sentence which is made to by joining two or more simple sentences.

Purposes

Sentences are created for four main reasons: to declare, to command, to question, and to exclaim.

Sentence diagrams

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